Puppy Love
by avelgrange
Summary: Steve hates storms. So does his puppy, James, who runs away. In his search for a lost James, Steve runs into an entirely new James. Hes not complaining though. Entirely marshmallow fluff.


"It was 1789 and the French economy was at an all time low" Steve read aloud, reviewing his assignment. He had nothing against the French revolution, he actually found it to be a rather interesting subject. Essays on the other hand, not so interesting. But he had to do it, nothing could be done about that, and Steve preferred to have it finished on time. It was due the next week, so he didn't need to rush, but Steve had gotten into habit of finishing things early, he hated stressing over deadlines. It was then that he heard the distant rumble of thunder. Oh please no.

Pretty much everyone judged Steve from what they saw. Muscled, 6'2, strong jaw, blonde hair, blue eyes, he was a hunk. To them he was the all American dream, and sometimes he really was, but most times he was far from it. You see hulking Steve Rogers loved puppies fiery passion, probably mostly due to his tiny husky James. whilst he was very good at sport, his real talent lay in the arts, though he had quite a distaste towards showing off his work. He was also at the top of his French class. He was far more reserved than you would expect. And he also hated storms. A lot.

It had been worse when he was a kid, he couldn't get through one without his mother comforting him, and even then he was terrified. Nowadays it wasn't as bad, but they still stopped him from sleeping while they raged on above him. It was a Saturday, and it was only 10 o'clock, so Steve went to rummage through his movie collection. He was hoping to find a decent distraction from this horrifying act of nature. After picking out both Back to the Future 1 and 2, then flipping a coin to decide, he slipped the disk into his laptop and settled down with the original adventure of Marty McFly. He turned the volume up all the way in a apparently futile attempt to block out the noise of the thunder. He grabbed his phone and looked up the forecast. Supposedly there had been a storm front passing over the whole city, and this storm would last till morning. Another thunder clap made him jump. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

Bucky was so sick and fucking tired of this shit. Mrs Stanton was lucky he broke her pot and not her arm. He knew for a fact that he wasn't getting adopted, he was 16 for God sake, everyone in the system round here knew 13 was the cut off. Plus no one wants a kid with a needed constant physio for his arm, too much work, and it wasn't like he wanted to stay with Mrs Stanton. She was crazy, making the 7 year olds mow the lawn, clean the bathroom, dangerous shit. He just ended up doing it himself, then when he told Mrs Stanton how she was out of line, she started ranting about how she keeps a roof over his head. The only reason they still have a rood is cause Bucky patched it 3 weeks ago. When she started yelling about how he was a bad influence on the kids he got up and left. He grabbed his hoodie and his backpack, chucked on his shitty converse, and climbed out the window. He saw Alex waving him off and he smiled back before slipping through the broken fence. He'd come back, he always did, not for himself, or crazy Mrs Stanton, he did it for Alex, and all the other kids back there. He needed to work so they didn't have to.

The streets were pretty much deserted tonight so Bucky just walked on the road. He hadn't really decided where he was going, maybe he'd go to the service station down the road and get a some crappy food. He was walking slowly in that general direction till he heard a huge thunder clap. He definitely chose the wrong night to run away. He started to walk a little faster, then run once it started to rain. Bucky was already soaked down to his shirt when he turned into the road towards the service station. He could hardly see through the rain, so when he made his way into the car park, shaking like a leaf, he didn't notice that the lights were off till he was at the door. "Mother fucker" he breathed, voice shaking as he banged his fist on the glass door. Well, at least he was under and alcove and out of the rain. That was till the wind started to pick up. It went straight through his hoodie like he wasn't wearing anything at all. He stood there shivering till he saw a tiny blue figure coming towards him.

* * *

While his headphones did not do a good job of blocking out the storm, they did a very good job of blocking out the barks of his puppy James. When Steve got up to check on James, he realised that he wasn't in his bed in the laundry, or the dining room, or the living room. Steve started to panic. He got his flash light and and readied himself to check in the garden. He could hardly make it out the door when he saw another streak of light slashing the dark sky, but he pushed on. He searched every corner but found nothing. He ran back inside and sat down on the couch, head in his hands. Tears began to collect in his eyes. His mum was out tonight working the late shift at the hospital and wouldn't be able to answer her phone. Both fear of the storm and fear for James swirled into a huge mess in his brain and he couldn't help the sob he let out.

After 5 minuets he decided that he would just have to face his fear and head out. He loved his dog, he couldn't just leave him out there. "He's more scared than you are Steve. You have to find him" he whispered to himself as he grabbed his mums floral umbrella and chucked on his shoes. He could hear the thunder as loud as ever and his hand shook as he turned the doorknob. He finally stepped outside, letting out a very undignified squeak at the first crack of thunder. The wind chilled him to core, like being dunked in ice water. He powered on through the wind, calling out for James. Each stroke of lighting renewed the fear in his heart for he knew what would follow, but he had to do this.

The storm seemed to ease off, with less rain at least, though the occasional crack of thunder still made him jump out of his skin. He thought he saw the blue coat James was wearing turning into a street. Steve broke into a run, shoes soaked and dirty from the puddles. He turned into the street and his eyes set on the service station, and little dog in a blue coat, a hooded figure cradling it.

* * *

Bucky continued to stare at the blue blob coming towards him. Through the rain he couldn't really make it out, but I wasn't a plastic bag or just some litter. Bucky ran out towards it, squinting to see through the rain. As it got closer he could see it was a dog. A puppy. Bucky immediately sprang into action, trying to block the dogs path of escaping. It was a Husky he could see, it looked at him and backed off apprehensively. There was a bright flash of lighting and a loud crack of thunder and the dog whimpered, looking around skittishly. Using this distraction, Bucky sprang forward and scooped it up. It squirmed in his grip for a few seconds then seemingly decided he liked being there and stopped moving. It turned it's head and looked straight up at him and Bucky swears he nearly cried. The biggest, bluest eyes he had ever seen stared him down. Like they were looking into his soul. "Aren't you just the cutest thing I ever did see" He whispered leaning back against the wall of the service station. The puppy yapped, and Bucky grinned, letting out a chuckle. "So little guy what's your name? And what on Earth are you doing out here?" he said, picking up the tag on the dogs damp neck. "James..." he read aloud "buddy what a coincidence, we have the same name!" James yapped at him then settled back into his arms. "I'll have to find your home, poor owners probably scared shitless". Bucky looked over to the car park entrance and saw a flash light moving rather quickly, and a particularly ugly umbrella, both objects being attached to a tall, probably male, person.

The figure seemed to speed up and his features became more clear, blonde hair, strong jaw, fairly muscular. "Not bad" Bucky mumbled to himself as the figure drew closer. "Hi. I- I think that's my dog" the guy said. He seemed around Bucky's age. "Huh. He's a cute one isn't he" Bucky smiled at the guy, he seemed like he needed reassurance, When he handed James over the man he saw tears well up in the others eyes. "Thank you. Thank you thank you. I was so worried" the guy was practically crying at this point, but he was starting to look familiar. "Do I- I know you?" losing the warmth of the dog had set in on Bucky's body and his shivering worsened, teeth chattering, stilting his speech. "Hey, yeah I know you" realisation dawned on the blondes face "uh, Bucky is it? You're in my… biology class?" he continued to question. It clicked in Bucky's head "biology! I knew you seemed familiar. St-Steve? R-really good at F-French. Nice umbrella b- by the w- way"" he managed to stutter out his reply around his chattering teeth. "Yeah, Steve. Thanks for you know, saving my dog from escaping to the woods and being brought up by wolves as a ravenous beast hell bent on destruction" Bucky stared at Steve for a couple of seconds before he burst out laughing. "Sorry" Steve rubbed the back of his head. "What are you doing out here anyway! Not that I'm not grateful you are but it's freezing and there's a-" Steve jumped, nearly dropping James as a loud thunderclap sounded. "storm." He finished. Steve thanked the gods above that Bucky decided to ignore his reaction, being scared of storms wasn't exactly glorious. "Well my foster carer was being a b- bitch, so I gave h- her shit, she yelled at me, I l -left. Then this b- bloody storm started and now I'm p- probably going to get hypothermia." Bucky finished his rant off with a rather violent sneeze.

"So… I take it you're not going back" Steve asked, already trying to figure out how to pose his question. "Yup. I'm not going back tot that bitch till morning. I guess I'll have to sleep here, least it's semi dry" Bucky sighed really not looking forward to the rest of the night. "Well you could umm, well you could, if you want, stay at mine. Of course there's no obligation, if I'm over stepping a boundary I'm really, really so-" Steve let out a _very_ _embarrassing_ shriek as the storm made itself known once again. "Sorry. It's just that you saved my dog and all and I honestly do not think I would be able to continue living if I knew you were out here on the cold hard concrete in soaked clothes probably freezing to death." Steve finished letting out his long held breath. Bucky stared at him and Steve shifted uncomfortably, partly due to the fact he was being stared down by a particularly attractive (when did that happen?!) guy, partly because he _really_ wanted to get back inside his safe cosy house where there wasn't a terrifying storm threatening to blow him over, and partly because James would not stop moving.

Bucky opened his mouth, then closed it. This was extremely generous, he barely knew this guy, but his blue eyes seemed kind, and also kind of scared, but mostly kind. Why not just go for it, it was a hell of a lot better than sticking it out in this fucking parking lot, and if Steve turned out to be a murderer Bucky could handle himself. Bucky opened his mouth again, this time managing to find his voice from behind his constantly moving teeth. "That sounds absolutely fucking amazing. I'm actually kind of convinced you're and angel right now." Steve gave a sheepish smile, and small blush appearing on his already rosy cheeks. "Well I guess we'll just head back. No use to continue to stand out in the cold." Bucky nodded vigorously as himself and Steve turned to leave the service station.

The walk back was absolute torture. Bucky was convinced that after tonight he would never be dry again. The walk (more of a run honestly) was only about 10 minuets but it felt like 3 hours. The whole time Steve had nearly been jumping out of his skin at every clap of thunder and the storm was only getting worse. Bucky had long lost the feeling in his feet and when Steve told him that they were at his house he nearly screamed with happiness. They both ran into the house and quickly closed the door. Bucky stood awkwardly as Steve put his ridiculous umbrella back into the vase by the door and took his jacket and shoes off, carefully dropping James on the ground.

"Oh lord Bucky I'm a terrible host take your shoes off and come with me you're probably already frozen through!" Steve immediately went into mother mode when he turned around and spotted Bucky shivering uncontrollably. Once he had his wet and dirty converse off Steve dragged him over to his room and practically threw him inside. "Take your clothes off" Steve told him, not even registering the implications of that. "Not even a d- date first huh St- Steve" Bucky's delivery was pretty much ruined by his his shivering induced stutter but he thought he pulled it off. Steve paused from pulling clothes out of his drawers, cheeks turning cherry red as he realised what he'd just said. He could hear Bucky chuckling brokenly behind him and though he wanted to bash his head on the dresser, he reminded himself of his priorities.

In his haste to not seem ridiculously awkward, he hadn't really been paying attention to what he grabbed. "Umm… Here you go" He said very awkwardly as he handed Bucky some a pair of his old sweatpants and a very lame Sailor Moon T-shirt. He was trying very hard not to punch himself in the face once he realised. Steve was about to usher him off to the bathroom when Bucky pulled his shirt off, looked at the Sailor Moon shirt, gave an approving grunt and threw it over his head.

Steve thought he was going to faint because dear lord above Bucky was not your average male. The average male did not make Steve feel this way. Steve felt as if he was flushed all the way down to his feet because Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. He still wasn't over it. That was the most beautiful torso he has ever had the privilege of seeing. Even when ghostly pale from the ridiculous cold weather he was gorgeous. Beautifully defined muscles, but not too much, more like a swimmer than a body builder. He resisted the urge to fan his face. Steve considered himself pretty okay in the looks department but not like that. Steve realise he'd been acting strange when Bucky raised and accusing eyebrow at him. Steve turned and pretended to be looking for a shirt for himself. He could hear more clothes coming off Bucky. He needed all his will power not to turn around.

Steve grabbed a random shirt, which happened to be the only other lame shirt he owned cause he was an idiot who thought he needed shirts with Sailor Moon and the Power Puff Girls on them. Feeling particularly embarrassed with having a giant print Bubbles on his shirt he awkwardly walked over to his bed where he left his laptop. James padded in from the hallway, much dryer than he had been previously. "Well, it's a real sleepover now isn't it." Bucky said with a huge, seemingly immoveable grin plastered on his ridiculously handsome face. The grin only made him look better. God Steve hated this guy and his irritating attractiveness.

Steve didn't even think about it when he flopped onto his fluffy comforter. "Well, I thought the stripping was bad, but you already want me in your bed. Bit forward don't you think Steve." The brunette winked, rather obnoxiously in Steve's opinion but that was most likely only because he was once again, ridiculously mortified at this point. Bucky produced a special breed of humour, not one he was particularly used to. Natasha poked fun and embarrassed him all the time, and Sam was much the same but Bucky was different. He was somehow more of a smart ass about it. Before tonight Steve had believed that Nat was the biggest smart ass on Earth, it seemed he had been proven wrong. He was about to backtrack on what Bucky had taken from his actions but before he could get a word out Bucky was alreadly walking, no he didn't walk he _sauntered_ over like the unbelievably attractive human being Steve now realised he was, and told him to "Scoot. It's fucking cold out here".

Before today Steve doesn't even think he'd ever spoken to this guy and now he was in his bed. Biology on Monday was going to be very different. How do these things happen! By now it was about half past twelve yet Steve had never felt more awake in his life. Having had Bucky there to embarrass him he hadn't even noticed the storm worsening, the thunder getting louder and more frequent. Bucky's body was pressed tightly against his in his now seemingly tiny king single bed. He'd been asking about getting a double forever, he was 6'2 for god's sake, but now it also seemed he might need it for guests. At least he hoped. "So what'd you wanna do? Oh and nice shirts" Bucky lent over so his face was nearly touching Steve's. They seem to get lost in each other, that is until Bucky's outrageously cold feet brushed Steve's, the latter yelping loudly. Bucky erupted into laughter, only to be silenced by a particularly loud thunderclap, and the scared whimper from the blonde.

Fear seemed to properly set in in that moment. Before Steve had been occupied with overwhelming fear for his dog that pushed the storm to the back of his mind, this was then replaced with embarrassment and an urge to care for the poor guy in his house. Now that both of those issues were solved the, storm was raging as bad as ever, wind ripping through three trees, lightning cracking through the dark night relentlessly, with the booming thunder following it.

Steve seemed to shrink into himself, trying his hardest not to totally freak out. He closed his eyes, trying to focus on anything other than his fear. Bucky warm body, freezing cold feet, and moving form were helping to distract him but it wasn't good enough. The thunder seemed to get louder, invading his mind as if it was the only thing in there. There was another crack and Steve couldn't stop himself this time. He squeaked like a frightened mouse, which he honestly identified very strongly with at this point, sinking down into the pillows just trying to get rid of the noise rattling around in his brain.

All the stress from tonight had shot his mind into over drive, it was like he was still running on adrenalin and he couldn't come down from his stress induced high.

"Hey, buddy, c'mon what's wrong it's okay" Bucky was honestly lost in this situation. He knew he had to help, the blonde was quite obviously terrified of thunder and storms. There was a kid back at Mrs Santon's who really didn't like thunder storms, but not this bad. He decided distraction was the best way to go, he didn't want Steve to have a full on panic attack, cause he seemed to be heading down that road.

"Hey, hey, _Steve_ " he said firmly, Steve looked up, slightly dazed like he forgot there was anything besides his little bed sheet cocoon. "I'm really s- sorry I'm like this it's just I h- hate storms a- and thunder and-" Steve was cut off by another explosion of noise. His eyes went wide, both because of the noise, but also because he was now, very unexpectedly mind you, sitting in someone lap. "Just umm… calm down for a bit" Bucky's sheepish smile nearly made Steve melt and become a pile of sopping clothes on the floor. Clothes on the floor in any case would be nice. No Steve shut up. Not happening. How as this guy so god damn sweet?! He hardly even knew him and already he was treating him like he was someone dear to him, someone who mattered.

Steve was sick of being treated like he was always okay. Just cause he was strong on the outside doesn't mean he was always strong on the inside. He was a pretty big softy, not many people seemed to understand that he needed just as much support as everyone else. People always expected him not to crack under the pressure, like he was indestructible. He wasn't, he never had been, and he never would be, people just expected too much from him. He was captain of three of the schools sports teams, top of French, English, and maths. He had a lot to keep up with. He wasn't allowed to be overwhelmed, he had too many commitments. His mum had just as many as him working at a hospital and he couldn't ever dump his issues on her. So for once in his life to actually be literally held through his minor crisis, there were too many emotions, Steve just fell apart.

"I'm… I'm really really sorry I'm just kind of in a weird place. With my dog and I have a weird thing about storms and I am just so sorry." Steve was wiping tears from his face with the back of his hand, feeling like an absolute idiot. "Hey… It's really okay. We all need someone there for us at some point. It's okay to break sometimes Steve, you just need someone to mend you again." Bucky lent in slowly, knowing there was no denying what he was asking of Steve, but he was not disappointed with the answer he received. Steve was beautiful, and Bucky needed something beautiful in his not so pristine life.

Hello! Hope you enjoyed. If there are any spelling/grammar/other errors please let me know and I will amend them asap. Thank you for reading!


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